Re: Glenn Beck, I usually like the guy, but this is over the top. I definitely agree with his general sentiment, that we don't know him and shouldn't trust him (or any politician), but the dead intern thing was not right.

That said, he didn't say Gary Condit, so it's hard to say he was actually trying to bring that specific incident up. I'm sure that there are a lot of interns in the world that politicians would have liked to see dead.

Not sure how any of that relates to his silly comment about his girls being available, though.

The Beck family is the one in danger. Sexual abuse of the easily persuaded is usually accompanied by heavy use of alcohol. The Kennedy clan had their share of that character flaw, and Beck seems to know mof what he speaks. That Beck hopes for that to be a fatal flaw in Brown's character is obvious. Beck probably sees every celebrity of today's right wing uprising as competition to his rise to be leader.

I refuse to believe that it's just a Massachusetts thing, dads teasing their daughters about trying to marry them off. I think the vast majority of parents wants to see their children in happy relationships. The typical human isn't wired for long-term solitude.

You can see the girls were embarrassed but not angry at the comment. It's obvious they love their father and he loves them. Beck's response is way OTT.

I've only watched Beck once, online, but he didn't seem all that creepy. Mostly, he just seemed a bit of a joker -- a pudgy, right-wing Jon Stewart. He mugged for the camera a lot, hammed it up. I thought he was entertaining, but not really for me.

Brown's comment about his daughters -- yes, rather creepy. But at the same time, I guess he was overcome by the moment? Maybe. Traditionally, the father is supposed to be overprotective of his daughters. Not advertise their availability on national TV. It's mothers who are supposed to brag about their sons' availability in an embarassing matter.

I'll agree that an inside joke doesn't work well on the outside, but the joke itself is hardly outrageous even so. He probably shouldn't have made the joke, but that says more about politics and how every fart is recorded forever than anything else.

And as far as what this indicates about the family, I'd put money on the opposite of Dad trying to marry off his daughters or Dad trying to suggest matches with "eligible" politically mobile or wealthy up and comers. Maybe I'm wrong about that, but I'd think that it wouldn't be a joke then, Dad being serious, and his daughters wouldn't be laughing, touching him, or getting caught with that "oh, no you di'nt!" look on their faces. It's pretty clear that he has a warm relationship with his daughters.

I watch Beck and put into perspective his clownish faces and often find them mildly amusing. However, his hostile attck on Scott Brown hit a wrong note and left me uncomfotable about Glenn. I had a "what's up with that?" reaction. For me, Brown's crack was just a dad teasing his daughters in a way that would provoke that "Oh dad" reaction that healthy families thrive on.

I think Beck's remark was calculated. He makes frequent practice of claiming the Tea Party movement is as much a threat to Republicans as Democrats, but rarely does anything but fawn and slobber over figures from the Republican right (viz Sarah Palin). I figure he's found in Scott Brown a token Republican to buttress his shaky claim that the Tea Party movement is not wholly owned by the GOP.

Brown's comment about his daughters is something a small town lawyer might say at a Rotary meeting. Lame but harmless humor. I think he will take some time to adust to his new role of the nation's most watched Senator.

Yeah. I don't think the "He's Just an Entertainer!" defense applies to Beck. I think he wants to insert himself in the process, probably hoping he can lead up the Tea Party in 2012. Or would that be Tea Party Party.

I don't watch Beck a lot, but I think he is very entertaining. His show often covers items so disturbing to ones sense of justice that his over the top reaction relieves me of the guilt I feel for being resigned to them. I assume Olberman and Maddow fill the same function for lefties.

This reaction to Brown is not one of those cases and just stupid and mean. I don't usually find Beck to be mean spirited and dishonest as I do Maddow and Olbermann, but that might just be political viewpoint. I'm not willing to reverse that, I already have once in my life.

I'm willing to give Brown a pass. It comes off as goofy. He hasn't acclimated to the national stage yet.

Beck is an ass. He's a shock jock at heart. Back in his morning zoo days, a rival DJ's wife had a miscarriage. Beck called her up, on air, asked about the miscarriage, and proceeded to make a joke about it.

C'mon, they were having fun. She didn't have to start up that "Gas up the truck" chant if she wasn't into it. He did nothing a proud, kvelling Jewish mother wouldn't do (excuse me, C4). I found it cute, what can I say.

This is what Beck chose to make such unpleasant remarks about? It diminishes him in my esteem, which I guess is irrelevant because I've literally never watched him outside of maybe fifteen seconds while channel-surfing.

What is his damage? I don't remember him accusing Bill and Chelsea Clinton of incest, although back then of course nobody knew or cared who Glenn Beck was. Why would he "go there" with the Browns on the night of their happiness, exactly when such exuberance could be excused? I could go look at the Beck tape to search for clues, I suppose.

Anybody want to defend Beck here? Other than Dr. Pogo I suppose, who seems the closest? Maybe some of our leftists, who might see the upside in using it to shank Brown? Or would that be arming Beck with your imprimatur?

All I can tell you is I've known fathers who would do much worse (and who don't need ankle bracelets, needless to say). And mothers, but evidently mothers are allowed?

Gosh, Scott Brown is a human being. Good to know, because I was never going to get close enough to check the back of his neck for pod-marks.

Fathers have always made bad jokes about their daughters and boys. My favorites:

10 Rules For Dating My Daughter

Rule One: If you pull into my driveway and honk you'd better be delivering a package, because you're sure not picking anything up.

Rule Two: You do not touch my daughter in front of me. You may glance at her, so long as you do not peer at anything below her neck. If you cannot keep your eyes or hands off of my daughter's body, I will remove them.

Rule Three: I am aware that it is considered fashionable for boys of your age to wear their trousers so loosely that they appear to be falling off their hips. You may come to the door with your underwear showing and your pants ten sizes too big, and I will not object. However, in order to ensure that your clothes do not, in fact, come off during the course of your date with my daughter, I will take my electric nail gun and fasten your trousers securely in place to your waist.

Rule Four: I'm sure you've been told that in today's world, sex without utilising a "barrier method" of some kind can kill you. Let me elaborate, when it comes to sex, I am the barrier, and I will kill you.

Rule Five: It is usually understood that in order for us to get to know each other, we should talk about sports, politics, and other issues of the day. Please do not do this. The only information I require from you is an indication of when you expect to have my daughter safely back at my house, and the only word I need from you on this subject is "early."

Rule Six: I have no doubt you are a popular fellow, with many opportunities to date other girls. This is fine with me as long as it is okay with my daughter. Otherwise, once you have gone out with my little girl, you will continue to date no one but her until she is finished with you. If you make her cry, I will make you cry.

Rule Seven: As you stand in my front hallway, waiting for my daughter to appear, and more than an hour goes by, do not sigh and fidget. If you want to be on time for the movie, you should not be dating. My daughter is putting on her makeup, a process that can take longer than painting the Golden Gate Bridge. Instead of just standing there, why don't you do something useful, like changing the oil in my car?

Rule Eight: The following places are not appropriate for a date with my daughter: Places where there are beds, sofas, or anything softer than a wooden stool. Places where there are no parents, policemen, or nuns within eyesight. Places where there is darkness. Places where there is dancing, holding hands, or happiness. Places where the ambient temperature is warm enough to induce my daughter to wear shorts, tank tops, midriff T-shirts, or anything other than overalls, a sweater, and a goose down parka - zipped up to her throat. Movies with a strong romantic or sexual theme are to be avoided; movies which features chain saws are okay. Hockey games are okay. Old folks homes are better.

Rule Nine:Do not lie to me. I may appear to be a pot-bellied, balding, middle-aged, dim-witted has-been. But on issues relating to my daughter, I am the all-knowing, merciless god of your universe. If I ask you where you are going and with whom, you have one chance to tell me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I have a shotgun, a shovel, and five acres behind the house. Do not trifle with me.

Rule Ten:Be afraid. Be very afraid. . As soon as you pull into the driveway you should exit your car with both hands in plain sight. Speak the perimeter password, announce in a clear voice that you have brought my daughter home safely and early, then return to your car - there is no need for you to come inside. The camouflaged face at the window is mine.

Beck's comment was boneheaded.Brown's comment was probably benign, a euphoric joke that could be mistaken for something else.

Brown and family (well, at least Ayla) seem all very outgoing, so public joking like this is acceptable among them. My family is introverted, and girls would cry if their Dads spoke this way in public. That's why it made me squirm a bit when I heard it. I am glad to read of different perspectives, as mine is overly skewed towards protecting my kids from public humiliation.

To me it just seemed like a good natured, but in bad taste, inside joke for the family. The daughters were embarrassed but not angry. I like the look on his wife's face in the photo....like..."oh no, you didn't say that out loud1" and he looks pretty pleased with himself for cracking a joke.

If it were my daughter and her father said something similar....in a Henny Youngman type of way..."take my daughter...please" he would have been rewarded with a good natured hit on the arm and a "OMG! Shut UP Dad". All in good fun.

As already stated. Probably an inside joke, which is harmless, and usually not all that funny to the non insiders.

I think Imus actually nailed it today — he hit on the Beck remark several times, btw, I don't think he was impressed — when he said "Beck wouldn't have been so worried if only Brown had signed on with the 9/12 project before the election."

I thought Brown's joke was dumb, although innocent. He definitely came across a little dorky. Beck's remarks were revolting, disgusting. What kind of a mind does he have? Makes you want to go take a shower.

There are those whose talent transcends their biases. On the left, I would put Tina Fey and Maureen Dowd in this class. On the right, I would give the nod to Rush Limbaugh. In the entertainment field, wit has more currency than wisdom......I don't know enough about Beck to comment, but if you talk a lot, you're bound to say something stupid. If you don't like someone, you choose their worst moments as their defining moments.....The high comedy of the Brown candidacy was watching liberals--"it's just about sex"--twisting themselves into pretzels trying to find some way to pass judgement on Brown's thirty year old pin up photos.

Brown is a loving father. That doesn't mean he won't be happy when his twenty-something daughters are finally out of the house. Those aren't mutally exclusive thoughts as anyone with older children can attest.

Incidentally, Brown has raised two exuberant, good looking daughters who exude self confidence and health. Kids like that are a product of good parenting. You may question Brown's comic timing but not his skills as a parent.

I'm sorry but this is one of those "Andrew Sullivan" moments where the "creepiness" is in the mind of the listener. I don't see anything wrong with it - it's just a Dad teasing his daughters about being available for marriage. Quaint and possibly seen as sexist by some humorless feminists, but creepy? Please.

I did not know what to make of this. Latest parallel in movie dialogue was Dr Manhattan accepting Ozymandias' fiendish world-peace scheme in The Watchmen. I don't condemn him in any frothing-at-the-mouth, arrest-him sense, but it would seem to lower him in my opinion.

I abound in your sense of introversion, but seeing this is a political family and the daughter has been on American Idol, any shyness would seem misplaced, and in fact any shyness is not evident to me. Me, I think everybody on stage is having a good ol' time.

Both of my daughters, now married and in their 20's, have heard the great line from Eliza's dad ("I raised them with the sweat of me own brow til they was interestin' to you gentlemen") more times than they can count.

Embarassing the FOML's (Fruits Of My Loins) from time to time is a fatherly duty. Just ask them.

I was trying to suggest that Beck wanted Brown in a chastity belt for sexual fantasy reasons Beck himself entertains, and that although I do not share such peccadilloes, under current PC idiom, I am supposed to add a NTTAWWT codicil (i.e., 'I do not condemn').

I thought it was funny. Embarrassing, but funny. That's the way my family is, we joke at each other's expense. I didn't think there was anything creepy about it. He was obviously joking. Beck is a nut job.

Glenn Beck is also forcing the APA to drastically expand its new DSM-V, but that's another story...

Taken in full context-- as shown in the entire clip-- the remark about the "availability" his daughters is just an icebreaker to the honest love and appreciation he showed in the next remark. You also have to consider it in the full down-to-earth context of his speech.

Besides, what the hell does it really matter? Brown is who he is, and if his daughters were not offended then why do we care? Even if they were offended (which it doesn't appear that they were), the issue is between father and daughters and not for public consumption.

In general it would probably be better for everyone if we stopped judging politics as performance art.

You know, I don't get any TV reception so I've looked at precisely two clips of Glenn Beck. The one that stuck in my mind was the footage of Beck reacting to the South Park satire of him a while back. I found that charming, because he really seemed to be enjoying their spot-on take.

But geez- this Brown thing? Ack!This is like a confirmation of all the negative things that get said about Beck.

Count me in the skeptic camp at this point. Geez.

(When I was that age and planning my wedding, my Dad used to embarrass me during discussions by offering me bribes to elope. It's a Dad thing.)

A farmer had three daughters. The old codger eventually agreed that they could date. However he would meet each suitor before they left. Thinking he would intimidate the young lads when he met them, he would be holding his shotgun.

There was a knock, knock, knock on the door. The farmer opened the door, and the young man said:

"Hi, my name is JoeI'm here to take out Flowe're going to the showis she ready to go"?

The farmer couldn't see anything wrong, so away they went.

Later, there was a knock, knock, knock on the door. The farmer opened the door, and the young man said:

"Hi, my name is EddieI'm here to take out Bettywe're going to go eat spaghettiis she ready"?

The farmer couldn't see anything wrong so away they went.

Later, there was a knock, knock, knock on the door. The farmer opened the door, and the young man said:

Dogwood, Joan and others have already explained it in a way similar to the way I heard it--as an inside joke that is a bit dorky to outsiders, slightly inappropriate, but really, Brown just won this huge race and was excited and got carried away and tried to embarrass his daughters a bit. Big deal.

Besides, how creepy would it be if he acted like a super-overly protective father of his grown daughters? Imagine if he had said the opposite and joked that they were not available at all and that people should stay away from them. Then I wonder what Beck would have said.

wv: loutsor--Glenn Beck, upset that he hasn't yet been anointed the ruler of a large new political movement and that Brown's victory has taken attention away from him.

What kind of a father would he be if he weren't lame or goofy from time to time? Kids love it when you are lame and goofy and they can laugh at you. And what better chance than when about half the country is watching?

As someone said above, half the fun of being a parent is embarrassing your children.

Stray thoughts:...Beck is a Morman, and to him never exercising sex rights inside the "family of the Patriarch" is a constant dilemma for Morman men. He reccomends to Brown the "go cold turkey/ never have an oops " remedy. But Brown being a lusty Protestant that approves of lots of sex inside marriage doesn't like to see his daughters in waiting mode forever to enjoy the best part of a good marriage with a Husband. Brown was serious, but was not tempted to commit incest like Beck presumes.

Finally seeing the Brown clip, I think it's Beck who has a dirty mind.

I'm a father of a 19-year-old, and every so often, I give into the temptation to embarrass him by saying something outrageous. (Hence, he doesn't allow me to comment on any of his Facebook posts.) This was clearly what Scott Brown was doing. You can tell by his daughters' reactions. It was actually kind of cute.

But, I admit, when I had only read his words and not seen them, I was a little creeped out. He needs to be more careful now. I'm sure his campaign manager whacked his knuckles for having said it.

Good politicians read the audience and give them what they want. Obama does that well, Hitler did it well, too. Bush could do it.

But a good politician shouldn't give away his own daughters to the audience, even if that's what they want.

He made a mistake -- he's a populist, but he has to learn that there are some things that won't make him popular. He ought to protect his family, and especially his daughters. I loved the rest of the speech.

He seemed to trust that everything he would say would come out right if he just read the audience and gave them what they wanted.

Does he? I've been hearing that forever but I've never seen it. The audiences who love him don't love him because of his speeches. His speeches are boring, no matter how many times reporters tell us something different.

He wasn't worred about embarrassing his daughters while joking that they are single. My impression is they probably have a strong family bond and his daughters have high self esteem and a good sense of humor.

Being outraged by a silly remark about his daughters being single is strange and bizarre.

Oh the horror! If a father wants his daughters to be happily involved/married then that is creepy because such a relationship might involve another man's peepee and that's just weird!!!

The sexual over-protectiveness says something more about the people who are squeamish about it than the one who just wants his kids to be happy and providing him with grandchildren, or the bystander who accepts such a view as natural.

So, in other words, what Joan said (8:35).

Seriously. Get a grip. Stop worrying about the potential son-in-law's peepee and start being tolerant of things that most normal people accept as a natural part of life. And stop being paranoid over the loss of control over another person's decisions and their natural right to determine the course of their own relationships, sexuality and happiness.

I watched Brown's victory speech and squirmed along with the daughters. It was not what I would have done... but I understand.

Brown has been getting, what, 4 to 6 hours of sleep per night for the past month? The guy's exhausted, and he's living one of the best nights of his life. He's just being goofy, enjoying the moment, trying to connect with his audience because he really appreciates what they've done for him.

BTW, Ayla did a pretty durn good job singing her song on American Idol. She's not another Mariah Carey or Selena, but she can carry a tune as well as Britney or Madonna. She just needs to relax a little. Unlike the last two, however, I think she'll have a lot more palatable options than being a pop singer, and with her family she won't be anywhere near as dysfunctional as Britney or Madonna... or Mariah.

Oh for Pete's sake. Dads where I grew up, including mine, said things like that all the time. The family obviously loves each other and were having a good time up there together. The man is so clearly proud of his girls, and they of him. If you watch the faces for the next few minutes of the clip, it's pretty clear that Ayla's expression is one of MOCK horror, playing along with the joke. What is the matter with people?